By Eoin Meegan
With September around the corner and schools about to reopen many parents are already fretting about how they will be able to meet this year’s school bills. While education is free in Ireland there are many hidden costs, as parents are all too well aware. Top of that list has to be school uniforms, ranging on average from €158 (primary) to €287 (secondary) per child, not including shoes. It’s regrettable that some schools insist on the new crested uniform, including on jumpers and jeans; sewing or ironing them onto garments seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable alternative. Other expenses are ‘voluntary’ contributions parents are asked to cough up throughout the year, for school trips and the like. Some people will even take out loans and go into debt to meet these costs. The average cost of a first-year secondary school pupil is now €972.
In a report just published the children’s charity Barnardos has called on the government to implement a few basic changes: to extend the Free Schoolbooks Scheme to all children in the Senior Cycle (it was extended to include the Junior Cycle in the last budget), mandate all schools to adopt an affordable uniform option, increase back to school allowance and expand eligibility, increase capitation rates and abolish voluntary contributions, and reduce the cost of digital devices (that’s tablets and laptops which can be as high as €900 a year, depending on the school). With the government forecast to take in €92 billion in revenue this year (Source: Department of Finance), it’s hard to see how these not unreasonable demands cannot be met. Two things for sure must happen; the ridiculous ‘voluntary’ contribution parents are frequently being asked to make must end, and the back to school allowance needs to be universal.
So while many people are worrying about education, others are struggling to find a place to live. The housing crisis is now a national emergency. For some inexplicable reason as regards housing we’ve managed to turn what is a basic necessity into an elitist luxury. Responsibility rests firmly with the government. While no one’s denying the need for High-Rise, the disgraceful policy, thankfully now scrapped, of allowing uncapped restrictions in residential areas (see Cover Story), together with permitting huge conglomerates to gobble up whole chunks of land and then sell them back to us at exorbitant prices (see pgs. 30-31) have both contributed significantly to this debacle. The former, threatens the eradication of villages, while the latter acts as an impediment to individuals to get on the property ladder. What we need, no, require, are affordable, quality homes with supporting infrastructure. In short, we don’t need houses, we need homes.
Also in this issue we pay tribute to a stalwart of Sandymount, and a prolific writer, the late Anthony Jordan (pg. 8). And speaking of writing, an exhibition not to be missed is City of Words (pg. 12) at the MoLI, boasting a great display of memorabilia from many of our best known wordsmiths, including a first edition of Ulysses. Something to keep in mind for Culture Night (pg. 17) on September 20th. Successful fundraising is celebrated on pgs. 26-7 and 31. Kudos both to Ballsbridge Lions and Dave Donnelly. Lots to enjoy, so curl up, grab a cuppa and start reading.
